This Month in History: Johnson Service Company Opens Four New Branches

The cover of the Johnson Service Company 1953 annual report.

The cover of the Johnson Service Company 1953 annual report

Share

Nov. 19, 1953: Growing post-war use of air conditioning created a burgeoning market

The November 19, 1953 issue of American Metal Market announced that the Johnson Service Company (Johnson Controls' former name) had opened four new branch offices across the nation: in Champaign, Illinois, to serve east central Illinois; in Lubbock, Texas, to serve northwestern Texas; in Miami, Florida, to serve southern Florida; and in Pensacola, Florida, to serve southern Alabama and northwestern Florida. In all, the company opened 14 branches that year, which brought to 80 the number of offices that sold, planned, installed, and serviced the company's automatic temperature and air conditioning control systems.

The growing post-war use of air conditioning in industry and commercial buildings created a burgeoning market for temperature controls.

The growth in branch offices in 1953 was part of a larger post-World War II trend that saw the number of company branch offices go from 36 in 1945 to 111 in 1960, and annual net sales increase from $6 million to $67 million in the same time span. Accounting for this rapid company expansion was, in part, the construction boom that took place after the war, as a large backlog of civilian projects could now be undertaken. Also, growing post-war use of air conditioning in industry and commercial buildings created a burgeoning market for temperature controls. The company was able to anticipate these trends and position itself to take full advantage of them.

Related Items

A Johnson Service Company advertisement from 1965 promoting the company's new listing on the NYSE

This Month in History: October 1965

October 11, 1965 marked the first day that Johnson Service Company (the former name of Johnson Controls) was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Program cover from the Army-Navy "E" Award ceremony for the Johnson Service Company

This Month in History: September 1944

Johnson Controls was recognized for outstanding production of materials for the country's military in World War II.

Page from Charles Fortier's patent for an electric wave telegraph receiver dated August 1, 1905.

This Month in History: August 1905

Charles L. Fortier was granted patent no. 796,403 for his improvement to electric wave telegraph receivers on August 1, 1905.

profile view of Warren Seymour Johnson, founder of Johnson Controls

History

In 1885, long before anyone talked about carbon footprints or climate change, Warren Johnson launched a company to explore new ways to harness and conserve precious energy resources.